Pages

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Loma Ancha

I have the rest of my life to see that..... So, glib. So, disengaged. And, so wrong. Yep, that was my answer to everyone's inquiry as to whether or not I have seen this or that around Ajijic and the Lake Chapala region. I especially gave my standard "some day" answer when asked about trekking up Loma Ancha to see the shrine. Many added that the path continues to the top of the mountain and over and down to another village.

The Catholic shrine above Ajijic looks out upon Lake Chapala and the villages below. It is something that for the last three years I took for granted. The shrine can be seen from most any point in Ajijic and, from below, it looks to be about three quarters of the way up the mountain from Upper Ajijic. I promised Billy that someday we would journey to the shrine. This morning as the sun was rising, Christian and I made our way to the foot of the pilgrim's path. We climbed Loma Ancha to the shrine. And, we carried with us a portion of Billy ashes, messages, and flower seeds to cast "on the wind".

Billy wanted his ashes spread around the places that he loved. In addition to our pilgrimage to the shrine, we also spread some of Billy in Lake Chapala and a wee bit next to our mango tree and amongst the banana trees. Billy's brother said that he would have some of Billy spread in the Saint Clair River back in Michigan. We loved living just blocks away from the bottom of Lake Huron and the mouth of the Saint Clair River. We used to walk and ride bikes along the Thomas Edison Parkway -- one of the most beautiful places in the world -- in my hometown of Port Huron, Michigan.

I kept my promise to Billy. And, we made it to the shrine on Loma Ancha.....

From Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.